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As the Internet prepares to celebrate World IPv6 Day next week, law enforcement is worried the transition could hinder legitimate investigations. Some tech companies agree it's a concern.

The FBI tells CNET that the IPv6 transition may require it to develop "additional tools" for surveillance.

The FBI is worried that an explosion of new Internet numeric addresses scheduled to begin next week may hinder its ability to conduct electronic investigations.

A historic switchover that will give the Internet a nearly inexhaustible supply of network addresses -- up from the current nearly exhausted total of 4.3 billion -- is planned for next Wednesday. AT&T, Comcast, Facebook, Google, Cisco, and Microsoft are among the companies participating.

Side effects from the transition to Internet Protocol version 6, or IPv6, "could have a profound effect on law enforcement," an FBI spokesman told CNET. "Additional tools" may need to be developed to conduct Internet investigations in the future, the spokesman said.

That's one reason the FBI recently formed a new unit, the Domestic Communications Assistance Center in Quantico, Va., which is responsible for devising ways to keep up with "emerging" technologies. CNET was the first to report on the formation of the center in an article last week.

While Wednesday's World IPv6 Day is only one step in the transition to the next-generation system, it's expected to mark the beginning of a gradual decline in popularity of the outgoing IPv4 standard. The participating Internet providers will begin to switch over a fraction of their residential subscribers on Wednesday, and router makers will enable IPv6 by default for their products. (Here's an IPv6 FAQ.)

That's what worries the FBI, which has been meeting quietly with Internet companies to figure out how its agents can maintain their ability to obtain customer records in investigations.

"This is a very real concern," says Jason Fesler, Yahoo's IPv6 evangelist. It will "impact a service provider's ability to readily respond to legal requests from law enforcement agencies," according to the Broadband Internet Technical Advisory Group, or BITAG, which counts AT&T, Cisco, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Google, and Microsoft as members.

D-Link, the Taiwan-based company that's one of the largest makers of routers and networking gear worldwide, agrees. "D-Link is aware of potential issues concerning IPv6 and law enforcement concerns that are currently being assessed," a company spokesman said. "D-Link is committed to IPv6 support and will comply with any future guidelines."

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FBI: New Internet addresses could hinder police investigations